NEW YORK—Agility and an ability to evolve lies at the heart of the Related Companies’ myriad success stories, delegates heard on day two of the IHIF International Hospitality Investment Forum.
Summarizing the strengths of the company’s signature mixed-use developments, Related CEO Jeff Blau described them as “living, breathing developments that change as the world and tenant demand change."
Hudson Yards
As a case in point, Blau discussed the evolution of Hudson Yards, today home to more than 100 diverse shops and culinary experiences, offices, significant public art and dynamic cultural institutions including The Shed, modern residences, 14 acres of public plazas, gardens and groves, plus the world’s first Equinox Hotel.
“When we started Hudson Yards, we thought that significant demand would come from residential and retail,” Blau said. “But the big story has really been office demand. We went on an incredible journey to coax CEOs there at the start; now we have around 15 million square foot of office space, with no vacancy, and are the centre of business and commerce for New York City.”
While offices will be a part of the future of Hudson Yards, with the recently announced phase two comprising what will be the first new office tower project in the city post-Covid, Blau also covered the group’s exciting hospitality developments.
Hospitality strategy
Hudson Yards’ Equinox Hotel is part of a bigger, homegrown branding strategy, Blau explained, tracking the evolution of what started out solely as a fitness brand. “We invested in Equinox over 15 years ago, and really expanded the fitness brand across the US, until it became what it is today – the highest end brand in fitness and wellness in most urban markets in the US,” he said. “We knew how strong that brand was, and studied what were the adjacencies for that brand, eventually creating an Equinox branded hotel for Hudson Yards to counter the fact that most hotels don’t have great gyms.”
With a flagship Equinox club attached to the hotel, guests can become members for a day to try it out; but the wellness brand also informs the broader ethos of the hotel. It has in fact reimagined luxury for the twenty-first century, with rooms offering a minimum 400 square feet of space with medical grade filtered air, organic mattresses and pillows, plus New York City Skyline views.
“Rooms have to be cold, quiet and dark,” said Blau. “They are really sleep chambers, attached to this great fitness workout – we only have 200 keys, but I wish we had more.”
Further Ambitions
The next steps for Equinox Hotels will include expansion across the US, but also a push into the Middle East, with four slated for Saudi Arabia, one in Abu Dhabi, and one in Dubai.
But Related has many more ambitions across a range of real estate sectors and is even pushing into on-trend data centers and renewable energy. “We had been working on green buildings for some time, adhering to LEED Gold and Platinum,” he added. “When New York passed local law 97, with a focus on offsetting carbon emissions, we didn’t want to fight the legislation, we wanted to help solve the problem.”
Related has also invested in wind and solar generation infrastructure and has shifted from selling energy to governments and power companies to tapping up technology firms. “The tech giants started knocking on our door – Google is now our biggest client in the renewables business and the infrastructure we have built is supporting our data centre roll out.”